1. Technical Field
The described embodiments pertain to providing contextual information to a user based on location data and other data collected from mobile devices.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of information provider systems currently exist. These systems typically identify the user's current location and provide information about that location. The information provided to the user is often independent of the user's identity, and functionality that personalizes the information provided in any way is limited. For example, existing weather and traffic applications will provide information about places the user has previously been, and provide a list of categories of information to which the user can subscribe. The value of such information provider systems is limited by a number of factors.
First, the interests and tastes of a typical user are more nuanced than the general category preferences that existing systems provide. Second, existing systems provide information similar to that which the user has seen before, whereas many users are interested in being presented with new types of information and given options to explore. Third, existing systems consider where a user is, but the information that the user is interested in varies due to many factors other than location. For example, a user who is downtown is likely to have very different interests at 1 pm on a Tuesday afternoon than at 1 am on a Saturday night. Fourth, existing systems are typically limited to providing information based on the user's current location, or a predetermined location. However, in some instances, the user may be more interested in information related to where they will be in future. For example, a user who will be leaving work in three hours needs a projection of traffic for that time, not current traffic; upcoming events, such as a football game or parade, may also affect the projected traffic. Similarly, a user might benefit from a recommendation for a restaurant near his next meeting rather than his current location. As a result, many information provider systems are limited in their usefulness to particular scenarios.